


The Farm

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Comfort, Established Relationship, Multi, Talking, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26632459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: When the team needs somewhere to regroup, Clint brings them to the farm, where his and Tony's partner Laura lives.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 76
Collections: Marvel Polyship Bingo 2020





	The Farm

**Author's Note:**

> For marvel polyship bingo: B4-Wild West

"You won't even be able to tell," Clint said as Laura worriedly trailed her fingers over where the wound had been. 

"I can tell," she said. He wasn't sure if that was true, or if she was just trying to make him feel better about how well she knew him. If he got completely replaced to be something like an android, she'd notice. As much as he would like to be in a position to tease her for it, it was actually pretty nice. After the whole alien invasion thing, he wasn't ruling anything out. "Where's Tony?" 

"Freaking out. Not sure where." 

"Bad mission?" 

"Horrible. Some sort of... mind game. Memories maybe. Nobody offered to tell me, and I didn't ask. All I can tell is that they're in a bad way." 

Laura hummed, smoothing her hands over her belly. "Tractor's broken. He's always better when he has something to fix." 

"I thought you thought Tony got too distracted with work." 

"Work is one thing. Fixing is another. Fixing things makes him feel useful. Building new things makes him think he has to be brilliant. Stresses him out. It does everyone good to feel useful sometimes. Including you," she added pointedly. 

Clint was helpless to do anything but smile. "What do you need?" 

"Some thinking about where everyone's going to sleep? You and Tony are easy-" 

"Wow, harsh." 

"-but even if the kids bunk with each other, we're several rooms short. You know the team better than me. Figure out who won't kill each other over sharing a bed, and take care of it. Please," she added, giving him a quick kiss and shuffling off to find Tony. They had a lot of land out here, but there were only so many places he could be that were close to the house. It’s not like Tony was going to hide in the middle of a field. 

When she found him, he was standing near Captain America chopping wood. It looked like they were arguing, which was bad. Tony was out here to distract himself from getting lost in his head though, which was good. Things had gotten better when he started taking an active role in his mental health. 

"Tony?" she called, not bothered in the slightest by interrupting them. "The tractor's broken again. Would you mind taking a look?" 

"Sure." He sort of tossed the ax down instead of setting it. He wasn't doing as good as he wanted everyone to think, but Laura saw right through it. She wasn't a spy or agent of Shield or anything like that, but she knew people. More than she knew people, she knew her partners. 

"Thanks," she said when he got next to her, and they walked to the barn together. "I don't know what happened to it. It was working fine last week, but now I can't get it to start." 

"You took care of it while I was gone, right?" 

"Followed your instructions to the letter." Or as close to the letter as she could get from her notes from his rambled instructions. He got pulled into tangents so often that she'd mostly figured out how to filter it out, but there was always room for error. "I think last time you said something about the battery." 

"I think I also said something about it being good for a while longer." 

"It's no harm if you were wrong," she reminded him. "Tractor maintenance wasn't taught in your MIT engineering classes. I don't think, anyways." 

Tony was quiet for a moment, then said, "How's the morning sickness?" 

"Better. Not near as bad as it was the last time. Not to sound like a nagging wife, but you'd know that if you called." 

"I've been busy." 

"I know you have." Laura took a deep breath. "I also know that you could've made the time for a quick call or some texts more often than you've been doing. I know you're busy. I'm not trying to say that you're not. It kind of feels like you're backing out of this though, and if that's what you're thinking, I would prefer if we talked about it now rather than wait. Even if that's not what you're thinking, I feel like we should talk about it now." 

"it's not that I'm having second thoughts; it's that I'm never around. I never  _ will _ be around. It was stupid for me to try and do the family thing when I'm not capable of it." 

"You're plenty capable of it. I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't think you could do it." 

"We all make mistakes. Even you." 

Laura pushed the door to the barn open and they both stepped inside. It felt different now, out of the sun. Probably not different enough to soothe whatever had been worrying him for the past few months combined with whatever had happened to the team earlier. "What did you see?" 

"What?" 

"Clint said there was some sort of... vision. Fucked everyone up. What did you see?" 

Tony didn't answer for a moment, and she worried that he wasn't going to answer at all. If he'd been considering leaving-- or rather, never coming back-- then there wasn't a reason for him to talk to her. "Everyone dead. The Chitauri army came back, and we couldn't stop them. The team, you and your kids, the entire damn planet. Everyone was dead." 

"Our kids," she corrected. "They're  _ our _ kids, Tony." She knew that it wasn't the most important detail of what he'd said, but it was the only thing she knew for sure about. It was the only part she could comfort him about with one hundred percent surety. As much as she wished she could tell him that the rest of it was a pile of shit, she didn't know it. She wasn't a superhero or a Shield agent. She was a mother and a farmer, and she loved him. "They're our kids, and I know that you love them as much as they love you. You've been gone for a long time, but they haven't forgotten you, and I know that you haven't forgotten them. Putting distance between us doesn't change that. 

"And it wasn't a prophecy," she added. "You were shown what you fear most. It's okay to be upset about that, but you don't need to take it as fact. That's not the future." 

"I know. Jesus, Laura, I might be crazy, but I'm not stupid. It was a vision to mess with my head, and I know that that's all it was." He was being defensive, but from the way Clint had told it, it had been vivid. They both knew that the vision was fake, but if it had looked as real as the world around them, that would be a hard thing to shake. 

She didn't miss how he didn't reply to the rest of what she'd said. Laura knew that unconditional love was hard for Tony to get used to, and he didn't know how to respond to it. "Okay," she said, deciding that she wasn't going to push it further. Trying to force Tony to say that he knew they loved him wasn't going to help the situation any. She wrapped an arm around his waist. "I get so worried about all of you out there. If something happens, I'd learn about it on the news, you know? I know that I should let you get working, but I missed you. Plus I want to give Clint a chance to figure out the sleeping arrangements before I head back in. Mm. He's kicking." Laura held out her hand for his, and he complied. How easily he put his hand in hers was a bigger sign that he'd been listening to her than anything he could've said. She didn't hide her smile; let him think of it however he wanted. It took a little pushing and searching to find the spot where he could feel it, but they found it. "Being pregnant isn't all bad, but this is the last time I'm doing this." 

"Three sounds like a good number of kids." 

"Clint said he wants five," Laura said with a smirk. 

"Clint can try to convince you to have more kids when he retires. Didn't he say he was retiring the month before you give birth?" 

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I want to have more kids. I think you're right; three is a good number. If you could tell Clint you agree, that would be helpful." 

"I'll make a note of it." 

"Make a note as in you're planning on staying?" 

Tony sighed. "I dunno. I want to. Does that count for anything?" 

"Counts for a lot," Laura said, kissing his cheek. "Come in the house when you're done or need anything, okay? We can all talk tonight." 

"I don't know what good talking will do." 

"It'll do more good than not talking would." 

Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What was I thinking getting involved with someone so much smarter than me?" 

"I'm emotion-smart; you're brain-smart. That makes Clint..."

"Physical-smart," Tony said, and they both nodded. "Don't worry, I think he already knows." 

"Talking about me?" Clint asked, poking his head in. 

"Can I take this to mean that you're done with the sleeping arrangements?" Laura asked. 

"Psh, what? Me? I mean, you  _ could _ take it to mean that, but I'm not sure what good it would do. On an unrelated note, I have to leave again. Have fun with whatever you're doing," Clint said, then fled. 


End file.
